Playing the Royal Game

‘Someone...’ she reminded again, and his head lowered as he took to his mouth the nipple he had dreamt of all night. It tasted as sweet as he had imagined and for Allegra it felt sublime, especially as he moved his mouth away and then blew, and then kissed and teased her nipple again, as he caressed it with lips that were soft now and tender. He took it deep in his mouth again, and she could feel the scratch of his unshaved chin on her tender flesh.

‘Someone might....’ she attempted.

‘But they would knock,’ Alex reasoned, and he tasted her some more. His hands moved around her waist and then played with her bottom, lifted up the nightdress, slid it over her hips, and his fingers pressed into bare flesh. He heard her breath in her throat and he sucked harder; he felt her so warm and aroused in his arms and he willed the door not to open for just a few more precious moments, especially as her hands roamed his torso, as he felt wary fingers slowly work their way down.

She knew they would be interrupted, actually hoped it might be Alex who would remind her of that, that he would halt her hands and stop this nonsense. Instead he moaned as her hand slid into black silk pyjamas and freed him.

Please knock, she thought as he left her breast, as he slid her up the bed and faced her in the darkness while she still held him in her hands. She did not know what to do now, so she felt instead, ran her fingers down the delicious length of him, stroked, so gently, from the tip to the silken hairs at the base and back again.

The bed was not moving, really they were doing nothing, Allegra told herself. If the door opened now, they could release and just close their eyes, pretend to be asleep.

‘I think we’ve been forgotten,’ Alessandro said, for once delighted by inefficiency. ‘They must be busy this morning....’ He ran a hand along his fiancée’s thigh and kissed her on the mouth. He succumbed to her tentative exploration, only just hearing a noise in the corridor outside. Allegra heard it too, for she released him, rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes, ready to pretend to be asleep, except her heart was hammering, her body in full arousal.

She was more than a little shocked at the turn of events, almost willing the door to open, so she could get on with her paid duty, not succumb to the bliss of him. For how nearly she had, Allegra thought, screwing her eyes closed tighter, surprised by her own inhibitions. They waited, waited for the door to open, except there were no further noises, no one outside now, and in silence they lay still.

‘We can’t,’ she said as a warm hand slid around her waist. ‘They’ll be here any moment.’

‘I know,’ Alessandro said, but he did move in just a little closer, his erection nudging between her legs, his hand snaking to the front of her, down her stomach to a place that was warm. His exploration was not as tentative as Allegra’s; he moved slowly but deliberately down, and long fingers so easily found the magic button that had her pushing herself backwards just a little to him, had her parting her legs. When his mouth kissed her shoulder he slipped his erection deeper between her thighs, nudged his way like a homing device to her entrance, and she felt her throat tighten.

Alex never lost his head, ever.

Except, as he lay in the bed, in the bed of a king, with Allegra beside him, for a little while he did lose his head. Centuries of history, perhaps, created a loud whisper that drowned out common sense, for he smelt the pine from last night’s fire and the creak of the wood that lined the walls. He felt the nightdress bunched around her waist move against his stomach, her bottom pressed to him. She was so damp beneath his fingers, he wouldn’t last a moment once inside; Alex acknowledged that rare fact, for normally he could go for ages. But there wasn’t a hope this morning, so he gave her more urgent attention instead, his fingers more insistent, and when she came, when he brought her to that place, he would enter and join her.

‘We can’t...’ Her words were contrary, for her body was on fire in his hands.

‘They’ll knock.’ He didn’t care if the whole of Santina walked in on them. In that moment he did not care. He could feel the tremble in her, the tension in the thighs that clamped on his erection and on fingers that were still working. He was as close as she was and he wanted to be inside her. He guided himself to her entrance, moved his face over hers and felt the heat from her cheeks as she spun her head around to him and he suckled her tongue in hungry possession.